GURGAON: Before Haryana’s electricity employees called off their three-day strike on Friday following assurances from chief minister Nayab Singh Saini, more than one lakh homes in Gurgaon remained without electricity as the strike by power employees entered its second day, triggering road blockades, disrupting water supply and leaving residents in several colonies without power for over 40 hours.Angry residents blocked Gurgaon-Pataudi Road, Railway Road and Basai Road, disrupting traffic before police intervened to clear the roads.Old Gurgaon, particularly colonies along Railway Road and Basai Road, was among the worst-affected areas. In Ashok Vihar Phase 1, power went off on Thursday morning and remained unavailable in most homes until late Friday evening.Residents blocked Railway Road near Daulatabad flyover on Thursday night, triggering long traffic queues.Rajendra Park and Vishnu Garden colonies had been without power since 10am on Thursday, while residents of Surat Nagar reported similar problems.Hundreds of homes in sectors 4, 7 and 7 Extension had faced outages since Wednesday night. New Palam Vihar, Sai Kunj and Chandan Vihar also reported prolonged cuts, with some households without electricity for more than 40 hours.The outages disrupted water supply as electric pumps could not operate. In Hari Nagar on Khandsa Road, residents protested at the Sector 34 power house on Thursday night after supply failed on Wednesday.Although electricity was restored on Friday morning, low voltage prevented water pumps from functioning, leaving the colony struggling for water.Residents of Bhawani Enclave on Basai Road blocked the road on Friday morning after going without power since Thursday morning. The blockade disrupted traffic on a route connecting to the Dwarka Expressway before police cleared the congestion.
9,500 complaints in two days
The scale of the disruption was reflected in complaints received by Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN). Around 9,500 complaints were lodged on its toll-free number over two days, including about 4,500 on Friday, but only a small number could be resolved.By Friday evening, 32 feeders under the office of superintending engineer 1 and 28 under superintending engineer 2 remained shut. Each feeder supplies electricity to an average of 1,700 households.Nearly 98.79% of officers and employees in Circle 1 and 96.95% in Circle 2 were on strike.Employees of Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam (HVPN) also joined the strike. Patwaris or gram secretaries had to be deployed at some power houses, with police personnel stationed there to prevent damage.Power supply remained disrupted in most 11kV feeders in Manesar and Sector 37 industrial areas. Several villages and colonies in Farrukhnagar, Pataudi, Sohna and Tauru also faced outages from Thursday morning.
Generator power costs Rs 30 per unit
Around a dozen residential societies had to depend on generators, including Hero Homes in Sector 104, Godrej Frontier in Sector 80, Chintels Paradiso in Sector 109, Emerald Hills and ATS Triumph in Sector 104, MR Palm Gardens in Sector 83 and Godrej Oasis in Sector 88A.Residents said generator power cost around Rs 30 per unit, significantly increasing household expenses. Prolonged generator use also raised concerns about increased pollution.Affordable housing societies without generator backup faced particularly difficult conditions. Inverters ran out of charge, while residents had to buy bottled water because reverse-osmosis (RO) systems could not operate.Santosh Singh of Pareena Laxmi Apartments in Sector 99A said around 650 families lived in the society and power had been unavailable since 6pm on Thursday.“With no generator backup, inverters failed and residents could not operate their RO systems. Some children could not attend school and some residents were unable to go to work,” he said.Manoj Kumar of Adani Aangan in Sector 89A said supply had been disrupted since Thursday morning. “The society was plunged into darkness after its inverters failed, forcing some families to move to guest houses or relatives’ homes. Residents had to order bottled water on Friday,” he said.Archit Mishra of Lotus Homes in Sector 111, another affordable housing society with around 650 families, said the colony had been without electricity since Thursday evening and had no generator facility.At Habitat Prime in Sector 99A, some families spent Friday night in the community centre, where generator-backed electricity was available.Resident KC Dubey said power had been unavailable since Thursday afternoon, with no clear information on when supply would be restored. Elderly residents and children were particularly affected.Residents also struggled to charge their phones and laptops, disrupting work-from-home arrangements. Some approached estate management offices to request permission to charge their devices.
Employees demand cancellation of private licence
Power employees staged a protest at the DHBVN office on Mehrauli Road on Friday afternoon under the banner of the Haryana Bijli Karamchari and Engineers Joint Sangharsh Morcha.They raised slogans against the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC), the chief minister and the Union power minister, demanding immediate cancellation of the licence granted to Eleven Power Pvt Ltd for parallel electricity distribution in Gurgaon and Nuh.Employee leader Amarjeet Jakhar alleged that the licence was intended to benefit a private company and undermine DHBVN. “Consumers could face arbitrary practices by the private distributor and farmers could lose the benefit of subsidised electricity,” he said.The strike was initially declared until October 24, but union leaders warned it could be extended if the Haryana government did not accept their demand.The Haryana Roadways Employees State Joint Forum also extended support to the agitation and staged a two-hour protest at the bus stand on Friday.Employee leaders Pawan Saharan, Sandeep Dalal, Satendra Kadian, Amit Rathi, Manish Dalal and Ravinder Hooda argued that Gurgaon alone contributes around 35% of the revenue.They questioned the move to allow private distribution in profitable areas instead of improving the performance of loss-making districts.
Power restored as strike called off
Following assurances from chief minister Nayab Singh Saini, Haryana’s electricity employees called off the strike, paving the way for power restoration after days of blackouts that left over a lakh homes in the dark, disrupted water supplies and brought industrial activity to a standstill.The Joint Action Committee said electricity supply would be restored immediately after talks with Saini and power minister Anil Vij, during which the government assured employees that parallel power distribution licences would be revoked and private players would not be allowed to enter the state’s power sector.
